I don’t understand why our public schools are giving kindergarten through 8th-grade students 14 standardized tests that are made up by Pearson of England, a friend of George W. Bush, who has no background in education or teaching experience.

In “Eight Things You Should Know About Corporations Like Pearson that make Huge Profits from Standardized Tests” (Alyssa Figueroa, 8-6-13), the tests are very expensive and full of errors. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank, estimates that implementing the new standards will cost between $1 and $8 billion, and nearly all the profits will go to the book publishers and test creators.

Parents are complaining about test questions that are impossible to answer because they don’t make sense. Some tests come with instructions on what to do if the child throws up on the test because of the pressure to succeed. Why are we subjecting our children to this? It is child abuse.

I taught 4- and 5 year old kindergartners and some grades beginning in the '60s. We didn’t teach reading and math in kindergarten. We waited until second semester of first grade. It went very well. Brain development experts tell us that the brain maturity for proficient reading doesn’t take place until the child is 7 to 9 and sometimes later for boys.

What we did teach kindergarten students then prepared them well for later grades and life. We gave the students the opportunity to learn how to work with others and practice making decisions on their observations of how situations and people act through free play. It was the developmental approach.

Through such experiences as listening games, varied art opportunities, music songs, rhythms, children’s books read to them and discussed by them, they improved their listening ability, their attention spans, and love of books. They were ready for first grade. They did well in later grades and college for some.

In the 1970s, Finland came to the U.S. to copy our educational system because ours was one of the best in the world. However, we don’t use that system ourselves anymore. While both Finland and the U.S. included all students in the PISA test, we didn’t do so well and Finland did very well. Other countries test only their prosperous students.

What Finland does in education is similar to how I taught in the '60]. They used the developmental approach to teaching. They don’t begin teaching reading until the student is 7. They gave students extra recess and not much homework. In Finland, teachers are in charge of their rooms, and they have to have a master’s degree to teach.

Since George W. Bush’s term, education has been taken out of the hands of educators. Per the article “Common Core: Increasing the Dumbing Down of America’s Children” (John McManus, 7-6-14), Common Core was written by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State Officers. Bill Gates and other millionaires paid for it. When teachers looked at it they did not recommend it, and no early child specialists were involved in it either.

Mercedes Schneider’s book “A Chronicle of Echoes” is about what’s happening in public education. It’s a thorough look at the problems in education and the people implicated in invading public education.

I wonder why we let them give up to 14 shoddy tests per student and make billions.They don’t consider the students, their reforms are destructive. Students deserve better.

Peggy Burns of Green Bay directed and taught nursery schools and taught 4- and 5-year-old kindergarten and some elementary students. She also taught nursery school teachers at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College